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WASHINGTON -- A long-term study found that a type of stem cell transplant used for patients with life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia and lymphoma, results in decreased sexual function and activity for recipients. Further, males are likely to recover from these changes over time, while the sexuality of female patients remains compromised. In addition, neither male nor female long-term cancer survivors regained levels of sexual activity and function equal to those of their peers who have not had cancer, according to a Blood First Edition Paper prepublished online today.

A new study shows that an important drug used in the treatment of malignant melanoma has little effect on the melanoma cells themselves. Instead, it activates immune-system cells to fight the disease. The drug, called interferon alpha (IFNa), is used to clean up microscopic tumor cells that may remain in the body following surgery for the disease. It is the only drug approved for this purpose.

Throughout the summer, many of us have heard warnings about skin cancer but decide the information really does not apply to us. That's how I used to feel. Then I noticed a small mole on my upper right thigh. It was dark brown and it seemed to be getting darker. Every morning I would think about having it checked. Finally I made an appointment at Leone Dermatology Center in Bloomingdale. I met with Dr. Bharati Chittineni, better known as "Dr. C." She gave me a full body check looking everywhere, even between my toes.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been implicated as a cause of cervical cancer in women, but there's another devastating form of cancer also linked to HPV infection - head and neck cancer - and almost no one is talking about it. "Right now I think the public and most physicians have no idea that HPV relates to head and neck cancer," said Dell Yarbrough, M.D., Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surgical oncologist. "In cancers of the oropharynx, which includes the tonsils, the base of the tongue, and part of the throat, about half of those tumors are HPV-positive.